How district attorney's investigation into 1994 police custody death unfolded

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Now that the city Medical Examiner's office has ruled Eric Garner's death a homicide by chokehold and chest compression, the baton has been handed to District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan Jr. to determine what, if any, charges are pressed against the police officers involved.

The officers directly connected with the incident, including Officer Donald Brown, 31; Sgt. John Mahoney, 36; and Officer Gregg Gerson, 25, were taken off their beats and placed on administrative duty.

M.E. REPORT

On May 9, a medical examiner's report, conducted by Dr. Charles S. Hirsch, ruled Sayon's death a homicide. ''The cause of Mr. Sayon's death is asphyxia by compression of chest and neck while rear-handcuffed and prone on the ground immediately following a struggle in which he sustained blunt impacts to his head and trunk,'' said Hirsch.

GRAND JURY

While the city autopsy labeled the death a medical homicide, it was up to the grand jury to decide whether it was a criminal homicide.

So began the prosecution conducted by State Island's district attorney, William Murphy, who had then been serving in the position for 11 years at the time.

The grand jury, selected in May after dozens of interviews, consisted of 23 members who heard testimonies and met behind closed doors. Their job, legal experts told the Advance, was not to decide on guilt or innocence. Instead, its role was to decide whether Sayon resisted the officers and whether the police used appropriate force against him.

GRAND JURY QUESTIONED

The grand jury -- which met 10 times in the first month of its term and only 10 more times in the succeeding six months -- came under fire for several reasons throughout the six-month prosecution, though.

One of the reasons, critics of the district attorney's office held, was its demographic makeup, which was highlighted in an Advance report in June of 1994. "The grand jury investigating Ernest Sayon's death at the hands of police is composed almost exclusively of white people," the report said. Those interviewed by the Advance outside the courtroom maintained "the 23-person grand jury contained only about two or three black people."

One witness who withheld her name told a reporter, "The jury is white, and I don't like it." The woman continued: "They don't know anything of what it's like to live in that neighborhood." (The Advance pointed out in the report that if there were between two and three black jurors in the 23-member grand jury, that would mean they comprise "about 8 percent of the body," a figure proportionate to "the overall percentage of blacks on Staten Island -- about 30,000 in a population of 380,000.")

The second reason the grand jury came under fire was for its lengthy deliberating process caused by a series of postponements. Having began deliberating in late May, jurors voted to extend its term several times, first extending it from the end of July to the end of October. Shortly before the October term expired, though, jurors voted to extend deliberations again, postponing a deliberation no later than Jan. 31.

Several Advance reports cited vacations and conflicting schedules as grounds for the postponements.

A VERDICT

After hearing hundreds of accounts and exhibits by witnesses and experts, the grand jury reached a final decision on Dec. 8 -- more than eight months following Sayon's death.

They chose not to indite the three officers in connection with the case.

Of the 23 jurors, 19 voted to clear them, one voted to charge Brown with manslaughter and one abstained. According to one anonymous juror, two jurors were precluded from voting since they missed substantial testimony, said an Advance report.

Following the verdict, Murphy made clear the grand jury believed the officers acted appropriately against ''a very dangerous man in a very dangerous situation."

TOTAL CLEARANCE

The U.S. Justice Department concluded that Sayon's civil rights were not violated and the Civilian Complaint Review Board cleared the group of officers after an investigation. An internal investigation by the NYPD also cleared the three cops.

"I understand people feel upset," Officer Brown told reporters after the verdict was announced. "If people protest, it's understandable as long as it is peaceful."